First Look: Love and Lies

Premise

In a world where everyone is assigned a predetermined marriage partner at the age of 16, one bland protagonist plans to defy the system and live with the girl of his dreams.

Zigg’sverdict: What Is Love? (Baby Don’t Hurt Me)

I’ll give Love and Lies credit for one thing – they get the confession out of the way in this first episode and don’t bottle it. That’s rare enough in anime that it’s worth highlighting, but there’s not really much else here to praise. The entire premise of the show, that you’re assigned a marriage partner at the age of 16, is a) completely ridiculous, and becomes more so the more you think about it and b) extremely disturbing, and becomes more so the more you think about it. Aside from that, the story relies on the crushingly stupid old cliche of ‘a girl was nice to me once as a child and now I’m hopelessly in love’ and is generally just riddled with poor writing and unfunny jokes. That’s not even mentioning the hilarious mood whiplash of the episode’s end. There’s nothing offensive or particularly damning about Love and Lies but it’s bland as wallpaper paste and I’ve got about the same amount of interest in continuing to consume it.

Iro’s verdict: I’d be Lying if I said I Love This

Love and Lies is unremarkable in pretty much every way imaginable. I get that teens think they know everything and think their love is the truest, purest love, but damned if that wasn’t some super tiring shit to watch for 20 minutes. Also, the very idea of a government-mandated eugenics program is so off-putting that the focus being on teen puppy love seems real off base. There’s probably a pretty sizeable market for this show, but I’m not part of it unless everyone’s giant eyes start shooting lasers.